What are the types of Amazon Selling Fees?

Seeing Amazon has proven to be a highly beneficial platform for online sellers, there is a price to pay that comes along with it. As a responsible online seller, it’s important to exactly understand what and how much your costs are for each product sold. While Amazon offers the option of two main selling plans that we will explain, there are additional fees that we'll dive into. Amazon selling fees vary depending on the industry you’re in, the size and quantity of products you sell, and more.

Selling Fees don't have to be complex.

It can be quite overwhelming trying to navigate through other websites to find which fees apply to you and what they actually mean. Well, you’ve come to the right place where you'll be able to decide which plan is best-fitting for you. I will thoroughly guide you through Amazon selling fees so you can excel in your online business without having any costly surprises.

Amazon selling fees are essentially a seller’s dues for using Amazon’s platform.

Individual Plan v Professional Plan

Choosing between the Professional or Individual plan can an easy decision. It depends on the size of your business and the current life stage your business is in. Here, we will break down each:

Individual Plan: $0.99 per item sold, no monthly fee

This plan can be ideal for beginner Amazon sellers. These are sellers who:

• Haven't figured out what to sell
• Are selling less than 40 products per month
• Don’t want to invest in advertising.

It can be beneficial for experienced sellers whose products are seasonal because why pay a monthly fee in the Summer if you sell snowsuits. You can also utilize FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon).

Other Costs:

Referral Fee: Between 6% and 15% for all products, except Amazon products.

Variable Closing Fee: Added in addition to referral fee, varies on product type. Will be explained below.

Professional Plan: $39.99 /mo

This plan is for those who want to compete by

• Advertising products,
• Utilizing Amazon selling tools
• Ranking high in product placement

But the most obvious indicator that you need the Professional plan is if you are consistently selling more than 40 products per month. This is because you do not have to pay the $0.99 per item sold; hence, you will save money on per-item fees.

Costs:

Referral Fee: Between 6% and 15% for all products, except Amazon products.

Variable Closing Fee: Added in addition to referral fee, varies on product type.

The Professional account plan does offer extra services too, including promotion running, bulk product uploads, inventory management, and access to Buy Box.

*Note: (1) Professional plan sellers are waived from the $0.99 per-item fee. (2) Once you have established your Amazon online presence from the Individual plan, you can easily switch to the Professional plan.

What is the Referral Fee?

The referral fee is another Amazon selling fee that you're charged upon any product sold - for both Individual and Professional plan sellers. This is because Amazon is essentially the referral as its trustworthy platform connected the buyers to sellers.

Referral fees vary in percentage depending on the category of product you sell. For very low-priced items, sellers should note there is a minimum referral fee of $0.30 (except for Amazon Explore). That is if the percent referral fee is lower than that.

Below, you’ll see several percentages that vary for a product. This is because there are different schedules of fees - meaning certain fees fluctuate based on the total sales price. So, look for the market you sell in as I'll show the referral fee based on Amazon’s listings: (Market, percent fee)

Tech & Media

• Camera & Accessories, 8%
• Cellular Devices, 8%
• Consumer Electronics, 8%
• Electronic Accessories, 8-15%
• Computer Software/ Video Games, 15%
• Unlocked Cell Phones, 8%
• Video, 15%
• Game Consoles, 8%
• 3D Printing, 12%

Personal Accessories

• Watches, 3-16%
• Shoes, Handbags, Sunglass, 15%
• Travel, 15%
• Jewelry, 5-20%
• Clothing, 17%

Arts

• Books, 15%
• Music, 15%
• Musical Instruments, 15%

Home

• All Furniture, 10-15%
• Garden & Pet Goods, 15%
• Kitchen, 15%
• Appliances, 8-15%
• Home Improvement, 12-15%
• Outdoors, 15%
• Grocery, 8-15%
• Gift cards, 20%

Wellness

• Beauty, 8-15%
• Health / Personal Care, 8-15%

Other

• Sports, 15%
• Toys / Games, 15%
• Automotive, 10-12%
• Industrial, 12%
• Extended Warranties & Protection, 45%
• Other, 15%

*There may be Collectibles and Products that need to be approved by Amazon.

What are Variable Closing Fees?

Once again, these are additional Amazon selling fees. They are applicable to most of the products under the “media” category that I listed above. It’s a flat fee rate ranging from $1.35 - $1.80.

Fulfillment Fees

You have two fulfillment options: FBS (fulfillment by seller) or FBA (fulfillment by Amazon). Both Individual and Professional plan sellers can utilize either option, but Professional sellers have more accessibility. Amazon selling fees vary and are reflected in the referral fee.

Here's the updated 2024 Amazon FBA Fees.

What are FBS fees?

While this may be interpreted as a fee, it’s more so a fixed expense set by Amazon if you are self-fulfilling your products. Professional account sellers can set their own shipping rates, except for media-deemed products. While media is a commonly sold product, here are its set rates:

Domestic

• Standard: $3.99
• Expedited: $6.99
• 2-day: $14.95

International

• Standard: $14.95 - $24.95
• Expedited: $46.50

Individual sellers, however, must use a set shipping rate for all types of products sold, media or not. Plus, they are limited to only domestic standard and domestic expedited shipping. For media products, shipping rates are fixed at the same price as the domestic standard and expedited rates listed above.

Here are all non-media set shipping rates for Individual sellers:

• Domestic Standard: $4.99 + $0.50 /lb.
• Domestic Expedited: $6.49 + $0.99 /lb.

What are the FBA fees?

These Amazon selling fees apply to either Individual or Professional sellers who want to fulfill orders all through Amazon.

A transaction showing Amazon is fulfilling the order by the "Ships from" line

Fees are charged through Amazon’s perks and services of:

• Packing
• Shipping & Handling
• Storage
• Customer Service
• Returns

There are 3 main Amazon selling fees regarding FBA users:

1. Order Fulfillment Fees

These are calculated through the size and weight of items that Amazon is shipping. Simply put, the heavier the weight, the higher the cost. Note that shipping costs differ between non-apparel items and apparel items. Apparel items are more expensive to ship.

Here are the different fees you’ll have to keep in mind:

Standard

• Small & Light: $1.97 - $2.39 (non-apparel only)
• Small Standard: $2.50 - $3.11
• Large Standard: $3.31 - $5.95

Oversize

• Small Oversize: $8.26
• Medium Oversize: $11.37
• Large Oversize: $75.78
• Special Oversize: $137.32

*See dimensions and weights for each size on Amazon’s website. There's also a useful Amazon selling fee calculator that I found.

2. Monthly Storage Fees

FBA selling fees include storing a seller’s inventory in its warehouse. Here are storage fees depending on the month:

January - September

• Standard: $0.75 /cubic ft.
• Oversize: $0.48 /cubic ft.

October - December

• Standard: $2.40 /cubic ft.
• Oversize: $1.20 /cubic ft.

There are factors that can help you navigate the works of FBA storage.

3. High-Volume Listing Fees

These can be avoided. These fees are for applicable ASINs (Amazon Standard Identification Numbers) who have thousands of active items in storage that don’t sell in 12 months. If they are non-media items, sellers must pay $0.005 per month.

Other Amazon Selling Fees

Refund Administration Fee

Refunds are inevitable, so they are just as important in the sale planning process. Say you just sold a product to a customer, and they want to return it. Amazon’s refund policy does allow you to refund the money back to the customer. However, you’ll have to pay an applicable refund administration fee to Amazon in exchange.

You pay the lesser fee of either $5.00 or 20% of the additional referral fee we talked about.

Rental Book Service Fee

If you are selling rental books, you must pay a fee of $5.00 for each rental you sell.